Ben Felix, portfolio manager and head of research with PWL Capital Inc. in Ottawa, adjusts his microphone and leans a little closer to his webcam. Like many in the financial industry, Felix has embraced video calls as a replacement for in-person meetings.
“I haven’t met with a client in the office in years,” he says. “We get a lot of our clients through our online content, and those clients tend to be perfectly fine having remote relationships. So, for firms like ours, video is it — that’s how our whole business runs right now.”
For Felix, the transition to video calls was pretty smooth. He’s been making financial explainer videos since 2017 and posting them to YouTube, where he now has 370,000 subscribers.
For many advisors who do not have the same passion for broadcasting, however, the transition to video calls can be awkward.
“A lot of people were forced to take this on during the pandemic,” said Richard Coffin, an investment analyst with Watson Di Primio Steel Investment Management Ltd. in Ottawa. He hosts The Plain Bagel, an investing and personal finance channel on YouTube with over 900,000 subscribers.
“Four years on, you’ll still see someone on their cellphone with the camera kind of angled up at their face. Poor sound and poor lighting,” he said. “I don’t think any client is expecting a Hollywood production when they call in for advice, but there are definitely some things they expect to see from a professional.”
Lighting and sound
One of the most important considerations is lighting. If your room is too dim, the camera will produce a grainy image; if too bright, your face will lack detail. A simple key light or ring light will help create a warm and inviting image.
“The cheapest webcam with a cheap light source will look better than an expensive webcam with no light source,” Coffin said.
“For video, lighting is important,” Felix said. “But for communication in general, I would say audio is probably the key. If you want to listen to what somebody has to say, audio quality is super important.”
He said it’s a mistake to rely on your webcam’s microphone or the one built into your computer. They’re usually designed to pick up sound from every direction, and they’re too far from your mouth to reproduce a clean voice.
For video calls, a headset or earbuds that have a microphone attached offer great fidelity.
“Anything that’s too far away or too broad is just going to sound too muffled,” said Coffin.
Composition
Mark McGrath, associate portfolio manager with PWL Capital, has been creating investment-related videos for years, many of them targeted at medical professionals. He said framing the shot properly makes it look more appealing. He goes by the rule of thirds, positioning his camera so that about one third of the frame is above his eyes, and two thirds is below.
“If you do that, the whole thing will be framed properly, including how close you are to the camera,” he said.
McGrath, who is based in Squamish, B.C., said the background should also be considered carefully; it should be clean, not cluttered. And, while some promotion — like a sign or logo — is fine, you don’t want it to be “overwhelming or distracting.”
“I like to add some personality to my background,” he said. “For example, I have my guitar and a big Lego set in the background. Things like that let people know you’re human.”
Eye contact
Proper framing makes the most important connection — eye contact — possible, so line up the video feed with the camera lens as much as possible. McGrath turns his own feed off, so he won’t be tempted to look at his own image.
“You also don’t want to be too robotic in your attempt to stare straight at the camera,” he said. “You want your body language to be natural. For example, I tend to turn my head when I’m thinking about something. Think of a natural conversation. You’re not always staring directly into their soul 100% of the time.”
As with anything, getting used to being on camera takes practice.
“It just takes reps, said McGrath. “The more you do it, the more comfortable you become.”
Felix said sounding more natural comes with practice.
“Spend as much time in front of the camera as you can and then it gets easier,” he said. “When I’m on video, I think about it as a performance on some level. I want to do everything I can not to convey the wrong message or make an impression that I don’t want to make.”
Coffin said if video calls are a big part of your job, it’s worth investing in a bit of lighting and a proper headset and webcam.
“There’s a bare minimum that people expect,” he said. “And if you are proactively setting yourself up for these calls, you’re going to cross that threshold, and you’re going to be able to have productive meetings.”